Hello elephant, mango people proud to be like ants and hornets.

It is a well known fact, but bears repeating – there are enzymes in mangoes which are very useful for what is known as passing good motions. Those who like eating mangoes know this very well – all the garbage collected inside our bodies shoots out, often with sounds politely described as “whoosh”, and the same mangoes also provide ample resistance to germs and toxins as well as afflictions.

Scientifically, mangoes are known to contain a lot of “tryptophan”, which provides us with “serotonin”, also known as the “happiness hormone”. In addition, mango eating strengthens the nerve tissue, in brain, heart and muscles.

There, that covers Ayurveda, Allopathy and Unani systems of medicine. So next time you see any people from Kelaa Dhaam urf Banana Puri, waving mangoes at them, even plastic replicas out of season, will make sure they get the message.

You see, getting the message across to people in power when systems of misused governance are overdue, is very important. I think all of us can agree that almost all of our mantris and santris, laat sahibs and adawlut huzoors, babus and amils, and others in power, are now almost totally disconnected from what is happening on the ground. Except on Rajpath during parades and when they go to the airport, of course, now all that is also under investigation so.

I learnt this in Iran, late ’70s, in the days when there was a revolution against the Shah of Iran. Like India’s first family, the Shah was also the darling of the colonials, even though histoically Persia had managed to keep them out. Like in India now, Iran then was a country where “liberalisation” had brought in all sorts of carpet-baggers from the dregs of the rest of the world, selling the beads and baubles so essential to keep the oil flowing in exchange.

It was so similar – the lack of any form of accountable governance for the majority of Iranians living in abysmal conditions, once you left the big cities, was pathetic. All you saw was village after village of adobe huts and lifestyles unchanged from Biblical times. On the other hand, in the cities, you had “everything”. Ofcourse, the puppet media then, well before the internet, could only go on and on about the Parisian reflection in, say, Teheran.

Likewise, there was heavy uncontrolled spending on defence, rich people sent their children abroad to the West because there was no real domestic education system, there were multiple secret intelligence agencies prying into every aspect of personal life. And there was a “First Family”, placed there as pliant puppets by the shadowy puppet masters who still control the strings in the world, which thought it would rule forever.

Does this, by the way, sound and look like India, three decades later? The Iranian Royal Family is still out there, somewhere, living comfortably with whatever they could take out.

Oh yes, there was the same arrogance, like the Law Minister who said something to the effect that an ant can not damage an elephant – not realising that at the end of the day, ants move in co-ordinated groups and along with other small fry like bees and hornets, are absolutely capable of handling not just an elephant, but a herd of elephants. Basics of jungle life, that, but then what do you say to the modern city-bred politicians?

As reader and inter-actor “proud” Ant wrote in response to the previous column:- “ Ants are very industrious, self-sacrificing and focused, highly disciplined and work in groups/colonies, can carry 32 times their body weight, and there are so many varieties of ants with so many different specialised skills. For example, “Marabunta” or Army Ants raid (forage) in huge groups over a certain area in a concentrated and aggressive manner – finding all there is to devour. Then there are many sub-species of Fire ants (red ants, ginger ants) that have a sting to remember. Carpenter ants are no less devastating despite their small size (compared with elephants), and they can hollow out trees! So a “wise” elephant will not be so dismissive of ants. But, a not so wise elephant is liable to scream that “he will huff and puff and blow the house down”, and risk meeting the same fate as did the foolish, big, bad wolf. Now the question is, has the elephant unwisely stirred an ant’s nest (or as you might prefer to say a hornet’s nest)?”

So, mangoes or ants, go out there, and laugh at their arrogance.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Author

Veeresh Malik, is a fauji brat brought up all over the country. He escaped in 1973 to work as a seafarer globally, then came ashore in 1982 to a variety of stints in India and abroad, some successful, many not. In the last decade as the India head of a small Silicon Valley tech company, he now wants to spend the rest of his life doing not much more than offering unasked for advice and opinions. He has been married (to the same person) for the last 34 years, has two children, one son-in-law and is still looking for the perfect hair-style. He lives in Delhi and does not intend to learn how to set an alarm clock. Also publishing online at Amazon with 9 books to his name.

Veeresh Malik, is a fauji brat brought up all over the country. He escaped in 1973 to work as a seafarer globally, then came ashore in 1982 to a vari. . .

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Veeresh Malik, is a fauji brat brought up all over the country. He escaped in 1973 to work as a seafarer globally, then came ashore in 1982 to a variety of stints in India and abroad, some successful, many not. In the last decade as the India head of a small Silicon Valley tech company, he now wants to spend the rest of his life doing not much more than offering unasked for advice and opinions. He has been married (to the same person) for the last 34 years, has two children, one son-in-law and is still looking for the perfect hair-style. He lives in Delhi and does not intend to learn how to set an alarm clock. Also publishing online at Amazon with 9 books to his name.

Veeresh Malik, is a fauji brat brought up all over the country. He escaped in 1973 to work as a seafarer globally, then came ashore in 1982 to a vari. . .